Rural Manufacturing Units Project in Lattakia Empowers Syrian Rural Women

Syrian rural women play a key role in their communities and they are one of the pillars of the Syrian agricultural economy because of their ability to manufacture and produce.

“ the rural  manufacturing units project  in Lattakia’s countryside aims at empowering rural women through providing job opportunities, developing their capacities in food production , expanding their knowledge and information on product quality standard . It also  aims at helping women increase their income , by selling competitive products and at enhancing their ability to market traditional food “ Eng. Rabab Wardeh,  head of the Rural Women’s  Department at the Directorate of Agriculture in Lattakia  told the Syriatimes e-newspaper.

She highly appreciated the government’s financial support for this project  with the purpose of consolidating rural women’s role as productive members in society , especially after nine years of suffering caused by the crisis in Syria and that made many women the only bread winners of their families.

Eng. Wardeh made it clear that the rural  manufacturing units in Lattakia’s countryside  provide necessary equipment  and raw materials for the production process to make excellent food like dairy products by rural women including  cheese, milk, jam, pickles, oil and concentrated juice in addition to soap and dry medical plants as well as many  other household products which Syrian rural women can produce with high quality and  free of chemical and preservative materials  . 

She pointed out that these products give them in return a decent income , besides protecting the available natural resources in the countryside.

Eng.  Wardeh highlighted the fact that the production of the rural  manufacturing units hasn’t stopped in the light of the Corona  epidemic , referring to the implementation of sterilization procedures with regard to tackling the Corona virus since  manufacturing units and sales centers  are  constantly  sterilized with special sprays from the Directorate of Agriculture in addition to providing rural women with gloves and protective masks.

She  explained that the rural woman continued with  her work in order to continue the production  process on  the one hand, and that there would remain a source of livelihood for a number of rural  women who support their families from their work in producing foodstuffs.

On their part, a number of rural women at the home-based manufacturing units  stressed that it is important to support and promote their  participation in the agri-food value chain , since their role is mainly concentrated in production and processing.

They welcomed the support for women in rural areas in the form of initiatives focusing on empowering rural women’s fundamental role as members of smallholdings or family farms, which constitute the main socioeconomic cell of rural areas that cares for food production.

Interviewed by : Rawaa Ghanam